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Would you rent your property out to students?

03-01-2015, 10:48 AM

Hello,

I am about to buy my first buy to let and i was thinking that it will be good to rent out to students by the room as it might end up paying me well, no council tax to pay and renting by the room sometimes mean that the house is never empty (always having a tenant) and i might never have to renovate the entire house at one time.

Its a three bedroom with a living room, i could even convert the living room into a big room and rent that out as well. It has two toilets so it will be two to one.

Comment

I've owned 5 BTL's over the last few years and having made contact with various people ranging from builders to insurers to financial adviser and cleaners, the main tip most have passed on to me is, be very wary of student accomodation.

If you are serious about looking at this, and if it is your first BTL venture, I'd suggest making contact with some local students agencies and get their feedback. Depending on their reputation, they should give you honest advice and it wouldn't surprise me if some of them were to try to talk you out of this idea in the short term.

But, in addition to the above, if you were to find a decent sized 3/4 bed house then a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) may be a worthwhile option but aim it at working professionals. I live near Cambridge and see a lot of these in the surrounding towns/ villages and if you have the right property and advertise through the right sources or using the right agents, you shouldn't have an issue finding the right tenants happy to share. Just ensure you do the research and the demand is actually there for it, after all if you were to rent 2 of 3 beds then yes, that may pay your mortgage but without room 3, you may not make much from it.

Good luck with all though and look forward to seeing how you proceed.

Comment

If your going to rent to students just buy student dorms and let them out one by one. You will have all sorts of trouble with students from puke on the carpets to wrecked rooms. Just buy a flat and let it out to a family where you will have more peace of mind

Comment

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